Hey guys, elsalvadorklr told me that some of you were interested in what has been happening with my buddy Justin.

My name is Bryce. Myself and fellow inmate Ed Zachtamundo (Justin) were in the middle of a trip to Ushuaia up until a few days ago. Justin and I met on ADVrider several months ago and decided to try and ride together from Oregon to Ushuaia. I'm on an XR650L and he is riding a KTM 690 Enduro. We met up in California at the HU conference on October 18th and have been riding together ever since.

We crossed into El Salvador three days ago and were on our way to see fellow inmate elsalvadorklr and his bar. As we were passing through an intersection, Justin was hit by truck. We got him to a hospital and paid off the cops to keep him from getting in trouble.

After arriving on scene, the cops did a perfuntory investigation and determined that Justin was at fault. They had taken his passport, motorcycle, and other douments and were going to keep a cop with him at the hospital until he recovered in order to ensure that he didnīt leave the country. It was all kind of shady and I know they probably just wanted money; but at the time we were more concerned with being able to get him out of El Salvador as fast as possible. So, we got a lawyer, settled with the other driver, had a form drawn up and notarized that released Justin from fault, then got all of his documents back from the Cops.

He had a serious compound fracture in his right leg; it was broken in several places and the bone was protruding from the skin. An ortopeadic surgeon from San Salvador came to the hospital and performed surgery last night to put him back together. They had to reatach multiple bone fragements and used a substantial number of screws and plates to fix his leg. All told, the surgery took about four and a half hours.

Ás of this morning heīs still in a lot of pain and probably more than a little scared. He has been able to eat a little food and the doctors are hopefull that he will be able to make a full recovery. They estimate that it will probably take over a year for him to fully heal.

I'm currently staying at the Hospital with him. We are in the town of Ahuachapan at the private hospital. It's called "centro medico de ahuachapan". GPS coordinates as follows:

N 13* 55' 21.4"
W 089* 50' 38.0"

Justin does not have medevac insurance (i.e. Medjet Assist); luckily, he does have Health Insurance in the states.

Unfortunately, and we had to settle with the driver of the truck for $2,000. It was all a little shady; however, at the time we were more concerned with getting his documents and being able to get him out of the country post haste. We also had to pay $200 for the lawyer, and a $30 bribe to get his bike out of the impound lot.

Additionally, Justin may have to pay out of pocket for the surgery and hospital stay which will cost around $3,200 as well as getting a flight back to the United States, shipping or storing his bike, and whatever other costs he may incur as he recovers.

Like many of us who embark on these kinds of adventures, Justin quit his job in order to complete this trip. I have set up a donation button through his paypal account. If anyone is willing to help out a fellow rider who has been hit with some seriously hard times, I know that he, his family and myself would appreciate it!

My Paypal accounts were shut down several years ago because they refunded a sale to an asshat that didn't return my 600$ set of bodywork but gave me negative feedback and a dispute. PayPal gave him the money back and tried to collect from me. I told everyone I talked to to fuck themselves.

So thank you ebay and PayPal, Justin can't get more money.

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boondoggle

Watching Dakar is like watching people who've built their own world, and for just a couple of weeks they get to live in it.

My Paypal accounts were shut down several years ago because they refunded a sale to an asshat that didn't return my 600$ set of bodywork but gave me negative feedback and a dispute. PayPal gave him the money back and tried to collect from me. I told everyone I talked to to fuck themselves.

So thank you ebay and PayPal, Justin can't get more money.

You don't need an account to send a donation, just use a debit or charge card.

In my latest cycle mag, they did a review on the Honda crf-250l, along with the Husky Terra 650. The 250 weighed over 320lbs wet, the Terra 408 wet (claimed), Our 650L's weigh 346 wet, and with some simple lightening mods I've gotten mine down another 20 or so lbs...which puts it VERY close to the 250. Even the KTM's have put weight on over the years It seems like most all the big-bore dual sport thumpers are making a mad dash for the 400+lb range and beyond......
That really seems to be the opposite of what alot of us would like out of a street-legal dirt bike.
Are the manufacturers missing the customers needs in this area, or are us guys who'd like a dirt bike that is actually light enough to be fun in the dirt the minority anymore?

Its sad when the 250 class is now weighing close to a slightly lightened XR650L, and substantially more than a dual-sported XR650R

I'm not suprised there's so many guys riding crf-230l's, xt225's, tw200's etc, with the way the 250 and big-bore dual-sports are packing on the weight.....like a weight-watcher who's fallen off the wagon
I guess big bore torque/hp and light weight don't play well together anymore .....and its starting to seem the same can be said about the 250 class as well

I can't wait to see what kind of heavyweight Honda replaces the xrl with........if the crf-250L is any indication, its going to be a real porker..........

With this type of trend developing, I think I'll just lighten up my xrl some more, put on some USD forks, and let CW do his mega-motor magic on my motor when its rebuild time

We have a hard enough time defining what "Dual Sport" means on this board let alone a manufacturer trying to decide for us There's those that want a full blown dirt bike that is just legal enough to connect trails or to get the bike from home to the dirt, without hassle. Then there are others that want to load the bike down with gear for camping and traveling. Even the traveling covers a broad spectrum from exploring the local back woods to travel multiple countries. So if they make a CRF250X barely legal there's going to be folks that say, wheres the lighting, wheres the beefier sub frame to support a rack, wheres the ability to handle two up, wheres the ability to run down the road at legal speed limits without vibrating my teeth out, and why is this seat no wider than a 2x4

I loved my WR450F for ridding trails, but if I wanted to run into town to grab a burger I'd run the risk of getting a ticket for no plate. I love the XRL for it's ability to take me pretty much anyplace that WR did with the possablity of a little more work, or maybe not as fast in the rough stuff. But the XRL is legal in every state for any road. I don't have to wonder if I'm on a country/forest/blm road. I can also jump on some black top if I want to and cover quite a few miles to get to a different ridding area. That light WR had no problems running the speed limit but at that speed it's lighter weight made it a bit twitchy. throw some cross wind n the mix and you'll wish for even more weight :) The person that owned my XRL before me was tryig to take weight off the bike. first thing I did was start adding it back on (buddy pegs, tail rack, windshield, bigger tail light).

In the "what dual support should Honda make" thread no one can agree because there is always on thing missing. What's missing is each one's definition of a dual sport.

We have a hard enough time defining what "Dual Sport" means on this board let alone a manufacturer trying to decide for us There's those that want a full blown dirt bike that is just legal enough to connect trails or to get the bike from home to the dirt, without hassle. Then there are others that want to load the bike down with gear for camping and traveling. Even the traveling covers a broad spectrum from exploring the local back woods to travel multiple countries. So if they make a CRF250X barely legal there's going to be folks that say, wheres the lighting, wheres the beefier sub frame to support a rack, wheres the ability to handle two up, wheres the ability to run down the road at legal speed limits without vibrating my teeth out, and why is this seat no wider than a 2x4

I loved my WR450F for ridding trails, but if I wanted to run into town to grab a burger I'd run the risk of getting a ticket for no plate. I love the XRL for it's ability to take me pretty much anyplace that WR did with the possablity of a little more work, or maybe not as fast in the rough stuff. But the XRL is legal in every state for any road. I don't have to wonder if I'm on a country/forest/blm road. I can also jump on some black top if I want to and cover quite a few miles to get to a different ridding area. That light WR had no problems running the speed limit but at that speed it's lighter weight made it a bit twitchy. throw some cross wind n the mix and you'll wish for even more weight :) The person that owned my XRL before me was tryig to take weight off the bike. first thing I did was start adding it back on (buddy pegs, tail rack, windshield, bigger tail light).

In the "what dual support should Honda make" thread no one can agree because there is always on thing missing. What's missing is each one's definition of a dual sport.

I will wait for the temperature to rise above freezing, and go check! (Why do I always do this in the winter...) It sounds to me like a short somewhere. Great advice.

PD

Hey, Walter, here is an update on the Gerbings wired gloves issue.

I had some business in Olympia yesterday, and stopped by the Gerbings factory/HQ. I took my gloves, in-jacket wire harness, and the main harness (hard wired from the battery). The factory technician quickly diagnosed the problem. It seems that the female connector on the main harness has a tendency to shrink over time. If you look inside the female connector, you will see a metal plug in the center; this plug tends to deteriorate. The result is a poorer connection between the male and female plugs, which causes an arc. This arc creates a short, thus blowing the fuse. (One more result of this poor connection is that the two plugs pull apart easily, which is a real problem when you are riding, because you lose power to the gloves.)

Long story short, Gerbings replaced both harnesses, no questions asked. The gloves are just fine.

I kind of got the sense this this is a known issue. On the other hand, Gerbings could not have been more upfront and proactive in dealing with me. I am very satisfied with them.

PD

__________________
The Good Lord gave most of us 10 digits; mine are all thumbs.

Hey Purple
are you using both heated liner and gloves on your XRL, if so are you using the stock stator, and also are you using the temperature controller.
i also have gerbings liner ,gautlent gloves and dual temp controller but have not installed on my XRL yet.
let me know
thanks
John

In my latest cycle mag, they did a review on the Honda crf-250l, along with the Husky Terra 650. The 250 weighed over 320lbs wet, the Terra 408 wet (claimed), Our 650L's weigh 346 wet, and with some simple lightening mods I've gotten mine down another 20 or so lbs...which puts it VERY close to the 250. Even the KTM's have put weight on over the years It seems like most all the big-bore dual sport thumpers are making a mad dash for the 400+lb range and beyond......
That really seems to be the opposite of what alot of us would like out of a street-legal dirt bike.
Are the manufacturers missing the customers needs in this area, or are us guys who'd like a dirt bike that is actually light enough to be fun in the dirt the minority anymore?

Its sad when the 250 class is now weighing close to a slightly lightened XR650L, and substantially more than a dual-sported XR650R

I'm not suprised there's so many guys riding crf-230l's, xt225's, tw200's etc, with the way the 250 and big-bore dual-sports are packing on the weight.....like a weight-watcher who's fallen off the wagon
I guess big bore torque/hp and light weight don't play well together anymore .....and its starting to seem the same can be said about the 250 class as well

I can't wait to see what kind of heavyweight Honda replaces the xrl with........if the crf-250L is any indication, its going to be a real porker..........

With this type of trend developing, I think I'll just lighten up my xrl some more, put on some USD forks, and let CW do his mega-motor magic on my motor when its rebuild time

I agree, and add, this big fat pig Dual Sport craze is some of you guys fault:
The trend seems to be to use a perfectly good Dual Sport as an Adventure Touring bike by adding racks, giant tanks, big ass luggage, windscreens, phones, heated grips, more lights, GPS, ect. instead of using the bike for what it was intended for.
Just look at all the touring mods being done by your fellow inmates right HERE!
That being said, don't forget that many off road riding areas are being closed. So why does a manufacture need so many off road capable bikes in thier line up anyway and look at the stellar success bikes like the KLR and GS have.
I'm with ya on the lightening. I am shaving every once off my XRL. Less weight less fuel. Green baby green!

Just kidding of course, you know me, right?
Manufactures spend MILLIONS on marketing research. I'll bet they are giving the lions share of the market what it wants in thier new offerings.

Another thing to consider is that the weights of these new bikes just may be disinformation on the part of the manufacturer designed to get people talking about thier new bikes! Then they will just issue a correction later. Hell there is three pages right here about the Honda 250!

If you want to have fun off road try something like this! 220 pounds dripping wet at 35 TWO STROKE HP.